Carrots, Ginger and Cardamom Preserve

I discovered this marmalade on a trip to Wales with my friends Ewa and Jorge. We stayed in this secluded beautiful cozy house and the owner made us this earthy breakfast with her special home-made marmalade. We were so thrilled that asked to buy it but she had none left. I'll never know how she made hers, but I think I came close to it.

Ingredients for Carrots, Ginger and Cardamom Preserve

1 pound of carrots

2 red oranges

1 lime

5-8 cardamom pods

4 cups of granulate sugar

2 tablespoons of fresh minced ginger

water, as needed

Preparation

Wash your carrots, peel them and grate them. Place in a bowl and set aside. Peel and chop the ginger finely. Place a large pot full of water on the stove and put the grated carrots to cook until tender. Drain the carrots and place them in the same pot.

Zest the red orange and the lime. Squeeze the juice from the fruits and add to the pot with the carrots. Add the cardoon pods, and the sugar. Cook on low hit until the ingredients become looking like a jelly. Add water if too sticky and the mixture is getting dry quickly. You can add the pectin and stir for 2 minutes to finalize your marmalade. I like to avoid using pectin and just finish the jam without it. In this case I try to use the marmalade within one week and I keep it refrigerated.

Tips: you can serve this jam in the morning with rustic bread over salter butter or plain cream cheese. You can even go farther and serve it with cheese.

Coconut Noodle Soup with Lime and Ginger

This is a recipe for coconut noodle soup with lime and ginger I came up with after having tried different recipes from a variety of food blogs. While the process seems complex it is actually pretty fast. I cooked it with my crock pot over night.